Remember the days when you had to go to a gaming parlour and cafes to enjoy online gaming? Well they are now swimming in big money. The online gaming leagues in India are said to have become a big business.
According to a report by The Economic Times, serial entrepreneur Ronnie Screwvala is planning to invest Rs 80-100 crore for setting up a tournament while mobile game publisher Nazara Games has committed Rs 136 crore in its eSports venture.
Nazara Games eSports league will be hosting Dota 2 and League of Legends tournaments as well as offer live webtv programs and chat forums. Their investment in the venture is said to be spread over 5 years.
Manish Agarwal, CEO of Nazara Games said, “The league will have two seasons per year and six teams will be selected through free online qualifier tournaments, primarily focusing on games like Dota, Counter-Strike and League of Legends. For mid-core and hard-core gamers we didn’t have an offering, so this is to meet that set of users.“
Now eSports was a small industry, but over the years it has seen an increase in the number of players as well as sponsorships and prize money.
Recently, eGamers Arena partnered with World Cyber Arena (WCA) to host the national qualifiers in India for a championship to be held in China at the end of this year. There is a $28-million jackpot that winners of online games like Counter Strike and Overwatch get to take home. Last year, ESL partnered with Indian eSports gaming company Nodwin to announce a domestic gaming tournament with Rs 42 lakh in cash prize pool.
“In 2017 and the next two to three years we are going to see both domestic and international gaming companies eye the Indian eSports gaming scene, which will pick up even further because of the growing number of gamers,” said Ajay Shah, media and entertainment, transaction advisory services partner at EY. “As far as revenue is concerned in the initial stages, advertisement-based revenue will be a major focus. Companies will look at acquiring players for now to grow the scene in India,” he added.
[Source:-Tech 2]
